Under-21 EURO: how to pronounce the players' names correctly
Saturday, June 15, 2019
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Get the names right now; you may be using them a lot once the U21 contenders are big stars.
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UEFA.com's mission to correct the world's pronunciation continues at the UEFA European Under-21 Championships in Italy.
After checking out the completed squad lists, we have picked out some of the names that might cause English speakers problems. Get the pronunciations right now; chances are, you will be using these names a lot in the years to come.
AUSTRIA
Marco Friedl – Freed-ul
Johannes Kreidl – Cride-ul
Philipp Lienhart – Leen-hart
Dejan Ljubicic – Lyoo-bit-chitch
Dario Maresic – Mar-ay-shitch
BELGIUM
Sebastiaan Bornauw – Bore-now
Elias Cobbaut – Cob-out
Dion Cools – Coals
Wout Faes – Fars
Brian Heynen – Hay-nen
Alexis Saelemaekers – Saller-makers
Jur Schrijvers – Shry-vers
Jens Teunckens – Tun-kens
Jordi Vanlerberghe – Van-lair-bairg
Yari Verschaeren – Vers-garen
CROATIA
A note on accents; in general terms, a Croatian 'š' is an English 'sh', while a 'ć' and a 'č' resemble an English 'ch'. A Croatian 'c' (without an accent) sounds like 'ts' in English, while a 'j' is similar to an English 'y'.
Toma Bašić – Bash-itch
Domagoj Bradarić – Dom-a-goy
Marijan Čabraja – Chab-rye-ah
Ivo Grbić – Gerb-itch
Luka Ivanušec – Eeva-noo-shets
Marin Jakoliš – Yakko-lish
Branimir Kalaica – Ka-light-sa
Josip Posavec – Poss-a-vets
Adrian Šemper - Shemper
Ivan Šunjić – Shun-yitch
Filip Uremović – Oo-remmo-vitch
Nikola Vlašić – Vlash-itch
DENMARK
Joakim Mæhle – May-le
Asger Sørensen – Sern-zen
Jens Stage – Star-ger
Jonas Wind - Vind
ENGLAND
Hamza Choudhury – Chow-dree
Demarai Gray – Dem-a-rye
Ryan Sessegnon – Sess-en-yon
FRANCE
Jeff Reine-Adélaïde – Ren-ad-ay-lied
Houssem Aouar – How-are
Anthony Caci – Ka-see
Matteo Guendouzi – Gwen-doo-zee
Ibrahima Konaté – Kon-a-tay
Gautier Larsonneur – Goat-ee-ay Lar-son-er
Maxene Prevot – Pray-voh
Marcus Thuram – Too-ram
Dayot Upamecano – Die-oh Oopah-may-canno
GERMANY
Eduard Löwen – Lerv-un
Maximilian Mittelstädt – Mittle-stet
Alexander Nübel - Nooble
Levin Öztunali – Erz-too-nar-lee
Felix Uduokhai – Ood-woke-eye
ITALY
Federico Chiesa – Key-eh-sa
Moise Kean – Moy-zay Ken
Gianluca Mancini – Man-cheen-ee
Giuseppe Pezzella – Pet-sella
Filippo Romagna – Row-man-ya
POLAND
Polish names look forbidding to English speakers, but the language sounds a lot softer than it looks. A 'sz' is like an English 'sh', a 'cz' more like a 'ch', while 'j' is soft (like a 'y' in English) and 'w' is hard (like an English 'v'). The letter 'ł' sounds like an English 'w'.
Paweł Bochniewicz – Pah-vel Bock-nyay-vitch
Patryk Dziczek – Jee-chek
Filip Jagiełło – Yag-ee-eh-woe
Dominik Jonczy – Yon-chee
Kamil Jóźwiak – Yoozh-vee-ak
Dawid Kownacki - Kov-nat-ski
Mateusz Lis – Ma-tay-oosh Leese
Przemysław Płacheta – P-shem-iss-wav Pwa-hetta
Sebastian Szymański – Shee-man-ski
Paweł Tomczyk – Tom-chick
Mateusz Wdowiak – V-dov-yak
Mateusz Wieteska - Vee-eh-tess-ka
Szymon Żurkowski – Shimon Shur-koff-ski
ROMANIA
A note on accents; a Romanian 'š' or 'ş' are not dissimilar to an English 'sh' while 'ț' is something like 'ts'. The 'ă' is an extended vowel sound, like the 'a' in the English word 'star'.
Tudor Băluță – Bar-loot-sar
Radu Boboc – Bob-ock
Alexandru Cicâldău – Chick-al-daw
Andrei Ciobanu – Chob-ar-noo
Denis Drăguş – Drah-goosh
Virgil Ghiță – Git-sa
Ionuț Nedelcearu – Ned-ell-char-oo
Dragoš Nedelcu – Ned-ell-koo
George Puşcaş – Push-cash
SERBIA
A note on accents; in general terms, a Serbian 'š' is an English 'sh', while a 'ć' and a 'č' resemble an English 'ch'. A Serbian 'c' (without an accent) sounds like 'ts' in English, while a 'j' is similar to an English 'y'.
Luka Adžić – Adj-itch
Miroslav Bogosovac – Bog-oss-a-vats
Milan Gajić – Guy-itch
Dejan Joveljić – Yov-el-yitch
Aleksandar Lutovac – Loot-oh-vats
Erhan Mašović – Mash-ov-itch
Miloš Ostojić – Os-toy-itch
Uroš Račić – Ratch-itch
Andrija Živković – Zhiv-kov-itch
SPAIN
Martin Aguirregabiria – A-gear-ay-gab-eery-a
Dani Ceballos – Seh-bai-oss
Borja Mayoral – Bor-ha Mai-oral
Jorge Meré – Meh-ray